New Pope Leo XIV update: Australian Catholics celebrate Robert Prevost's election by cardinals in conclave — as it happened

Thank you for joining us today.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost — the first pontiff born in the United States — has been elected as Pope Leo XIV, his chosen papal name.

To get you up to speed:

• Pope Leo is 69 years old and grew up in Chicago.
• He spent years in Peru as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
• Appearing for the first time after the conclave, he greeted crowds with the words: "Peace be with you all."
• He will celebrate his first Mass as pope later today.

You can look back at how the events unfolded in our blog below or read about the key takeaways here:

Australia's Pacific neighbours have been keen followers of the conclave this week.

Two of the 133 cardinals who took part were from Pacific Island countries — a historic first for the region.

Pacific Islanders were among those who crowded into Vatican City as the conclave started.

This morning, Catholics in the region welcomed the election of Pope Leo XIV — whose predecessor Pope Francis made a historic visit to Papua New Guinea only last year.

Archbishop Rochus Tatamai from PNG says it's of historical significance for the Pacific, with a cardinal from Papua New Guinea and Tonga taking part in the conclave.

He says the new pope is likely to continue his predecessor's work in raising awareness of injustice and the plight of the poor.

Pacific leaders have also congratulated Pope Leo XIV, among them Vanuatu's prime minister Jotham Napat, and Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown — who said the pontiff's call for peace resonated with the people of his country.

And in Timor-Leste, where Pope Francis also visited last year, prime minister Xanana Gusmao also celebrated with a post on social media.

"Welcome the new shepherd of the Catholic Church and to all people in the world, Holy Father Pope Leo XIV."

Timor Leste has the highest proportion of Catholics (97 per cent) outside the Vatican.

Pope Leo has claimed a historic spot on the cover of the iconic TIME magazine.

In a photograph captured by Reuters photographer Guglielmo Mangiapane, the newly anointed Pope is seen clasping his hands in prayer and smiling warmly from the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square, as jubilant crowds below chant his new papal name.

TIME headlined the photo with the caption: "An American Pope."

Wonder what Pope Leo looked like when he was younger? 

You can find some answers here.

Here are some photos from Vatican City after the announcement of the new pontiff was made.

Pope Leo grew up in suburban Dolton in Chicago, where he attended Mass and elementary school at St Mary of the Assumption.

He later studied theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago in Hyde Park and taught in local Catholic schools, including at St Rita High School, according to the school.

"We are overjoyed that someone who is beloved and known to us is now the beloved leader of the whole entire church," said Barbara Reid, a Dominican sister and president of the Catholic Theological Union.

John Doughney, a fellow St Mary's grade school graduate from 1969, remembers the pope as a "friend to everyone" and a "kind, caring, compassionate young man".

"Even when he was 12 and 13, it was apparent to all of us that he knew what his calling was," he said.

"It would've shocked all of us if he didn't go into the priesthood. We're so proud of him."

Linda Eickmann, 62, was also born and raised in Dalton and attended St. Mary's.

When she saw the news of the new pope on TV, she screamed with joy.

"How cool is that?" she said, "A pope from my elementary school, from my town. It's unreal."

Ms Eickmann remembered Prevost's family as being deeply involved in the St Mary's community, where everyone knew their names.

They ran sloppy joe sales to raise money for the school, and all their sons were altar boys, including the young Pope Leo.

Reporting with AP

Hi Amanda!

This is a trickier question, and an example of why it doesn't make a lot of sense to refer to "progressive" and "conservative" bishops or cardinals or popes.

Even popes with more pastoral leanings — meeting people where they are, rather than imposing church teaching upon them — can adopt traditionalist positions that we would associate with "hard-line conservatives".

So we know that Pope Francis, though he did a great deal to place women in positions of leadership, did not believe that women could/should become priests or deacons.

When it comes to Pope Leo XIV, as recently as 2023 he did reaffirm that women can have significant leadership roles and exercise forms of authority within the Catholic Church.

But, he said he does not support the ordination of women. He said:

"[T]he apostolic tradition is something that has been spelled out very clearly, especially if you want to talk about the question of women's ordination to the priesthood … Something that needs to be said also is that ordaining women — and there's been some women that have said this interestingly enough — 'clericalizing women' doesn't necessarily solve a problem, it might make a new problem."

We don't know what that "new problem" would be.

But it's worth remembering that, as a member of the semi-monastic Order of St Augustine — whose "rule" has rather a lot to say about "not fix[ing] your gaze upon any woman" — he may be raising the possibility of what the rule calls "unchaste acts".

All this pope news might have you thinking about the role of religion in modern Australia.

In most states and territories, the Lord's Prayer still features in parliament.

The ABC's Tassiecast has been looking into this. You can listen here:

Hi Cam,

Not quite.

Robert Prevost does have a B.Sc in Mathematics from Villanova University in Philadelphia. But, before him, Jorge Bergoglio — Pope Francis — had a chemical technician's diploma and worked for some years as a lab technician at a food company in Argentina. 

His respect for science was then reflected in his approach to climate change and the advice he sought out to articulate his argument about the need to care for "our common home" in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si'.

We know that Leo XIV is deeply sympathetic with Francis's teaching on ecological care.

Does this come from a shared background in science (even though Prevost's interest was more mathematical) or perhaps a shared exposure to "the peripheries" where communities are most subject to environmental devastation?

 Chicagoans are celebrating the election of the first Pope born among them ever.

In true Chicago spirit, the city's baseball rivalry between the Cubs and White Sox has now extended into a playful debate about Pope Leo XIV's team loyalty.

The new Pope, 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost, was born at Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville, a historically significant African-American neighbourhood on Chicago's South Side, on September 14, 1955.

His father was a US Navy veteran who served during World War II and later became superintendent of Brookwood School District 167 in Glenwood, Illinois. Leo XIV grew up in Dolton, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago, and served as an altar boy at St. Mary of the Assumption Church on the city's far South Side.

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson joined in enthusiastically, tweeting a spirited welcome:

"Everything dope, including the Pope, comes from Chicago! Congratulations to the first American Pope Leo XIV! We hope to welcome you back home soon."

Hi Jenson!

There were four rounds of voting.

One on Wednesday, May 7, on the first night of the conclave, after which the ballots were burned and black smoke appeared.

 There were two rounds of voting on the morning of Thursday, May 8, after which both lots of ballots were burned and more black smoke.

Then, on the first vote of the afternoon/evening session of the conclave, a two-thirds majority was achieved for Robert Francis Prevost.

This means it took just over one day to arrive at a new pope.

The conclaves in 2013, which elected Francis, and 2005, which elected Benedict XVI, each took two days.

So, by any reckoning, this was pretty quick — especially when you consider that 133 electors makes it the largest conclave ever, and many of the cardinals did not know each other.

We learnt a lot about what Pope Leo might plan to do when he spoke for roughly 10 minutes from the balcony overlooking St Peter's Square after his election.

My colleague Riley Stuart has some key takeaways from Pope Leo's first address.

Hi Irene!

Great question.

What's in a name? For many people who were paying attention to the pre-conclave, the choice of Robert Francis Prevost wasn't all that surprising.

But Prevost's choice of the name Leo XIV was truly surprising, to me at least, because of what it tells us about the new pope's sense of the greatest challenges confronting the church.

We cannot know if he had this in mind, but the last pope to take that name, Leo XIII, occupied the office during a period of tremendous turmoil at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.

The breaking-up of empires and the hardening of the borders of nation states left the Roman Catholic Church bereft of much of its imperial power or influence.

A new wave of robber barons and monopolistic capitalists consolidated wealth and ignited popular resentment. The negative effects of the Industrial Revolution on workers and an explosion in urban poverty fueled the rise of socialist and proto-communist movements.

And in eastern Europe, new forms of anarchist violence and terrorism shattered trust in civic solidarity. The world was changing, but not for the better.

The question for Pope Leo XIII was: where and by what means should the church intervene, at a time when it has all but lost its political power and its moral authority is tenuous, at best?

His answer came in the form of his 1891 social encyclical, where he argued the need for the church to place itself on the side of workers and the poor over against domineering states and rapacious capitalists.

The church's moral authority, Leo XIII insisted, could only come from advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable, by defending their rights to form unions and to receive a living wage, and by insisting on the dignity of persons.

Does Leo XIV see the church in a similar condition?

Surrounded by geopolitical conflict and widening inequality, and struggling to recover its moral authority after decades of sexual abuse and financial scandals?

Is Leo XIV deepening his solidarity with Francis for the sake of the poor and the marginalised? Is he announcing himself an opponent to those political leaders and unprincipled capitalists trying to profit off the immiseration and humiliation of the most vulnerable?

Time will tell.

Pope Leo's election was a surprise to many—including Andrew West, host of the ABC's Religion and Ethics Report. 

He joined Samantha Hawley on ABC News Daily to talk through what we know about the new pope and what his election means for the church. 

Andrew reckons there will be some key differences in this papacy compared to that of Pope Francis.

"There will be more concessions to conservatives, there will be less discussion, I think, around things like sex and sexuality.

"But he's not going to let up on the core social justice, environmental, immigrant rights stuff."

You can listen to the full episode of News Daily here:

As we mentioned earlier, Australian PM Anthony Albanese has congratulated the election of Pope Leo and says he will invite the new pope to visit Australia in 2028. 

Here is what the PM has said.

Hi Jane,

Thanks for your question!

The pope has his official tailor — the Gammarelli family — who have dressed thousands of priests, hundreds of cardinals, and bishops.

The papal tailors at Gammarelli prepare white vestments, including a cassock, sash, and skullcap.

You can read more here.

Thousands of people gathered earlier today in Saint Peter’s Square in  Basilica for a first glimpse at the new pope — including none other than Harry Styles himself.

Here is the full statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide.

Earlier today Pope Leo XIV emerged from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica in Rome to signify the beginning of a new Papacy with the words "Peace be with you".

Archbishop Patrick O'Regan has welcomed the election of Pope Leo XIV.

"Our prayer today in the Adelaide Archdiocese is one of thanksgiving to God for providing a good Shepherd for us all," he said.

"He will be a shepherd who walks before us and with us helping us to bring the joy of the gospel to all people specially those on the margins of our society."

Archbishop O'Regan met the new pope several times at the Synod on Synodality last year.

"He has a vast experience of working in many parts of the world and a profound knowledge of the Church and a deep Augustinian spirituality that will guide the church in faith, hope and love.

"God bless Pope Leo XIV and his ministry of communion."

We've got some footage of the Pope's first public remarks, translated into English.

He says that we should be united as one people in peace.

Watch here:

Greg Bennett is the Bishop of Sale in regional Victoria, and went to Rome a few years ago as part of an important group in the Church called the Dicastery for the Clergy.

"I was a bit unsure how that meeting would go —a bishop from Sale in Victoria being asked to go into such a wonderful group in the church," Bishop Bennett said.

He told Newsradio's Sarah Morris Pope Leo made him feel welcome.

"[Pope Leo] was so warm and friendly."

Bishop Bennett said the new pope was "humble and welcoming."